Kota City : Where JEE is in the AIR.

First one is me!!

It was April 30th, 2017, and I entered in that so called city of converting dreams to reality, Kota (Rajasthan). One of my school friends was with me. I was very excited about the dazzling of Kota city and a bit worried about my further days in this city.

Well, first, let me tell you about my life before coming to Kota. I studied up to 10th class in a small town of Nagaur (Rajasthan). Then I went to Sikar (Another district of Rajasthan) for my further studies. Sikar contains a lot of memories of my life, but I'll share those on some other day. In short, I passed 12th class with a good rank in Rajasthan.

So I was telling you about my life at Kota. I, with my friend Ankit, joined Resonance Institute and took a hostel on rent for one year. I don't know why, but my sleeping time increased drastically initially. But I controlled it, and it took 20-25 days to abandon this sleeping schedule and manage a new one. Later some of my school friends also took the train to Kota and joined Resonance. We together visited different places at Kota like Seven Wonders, City Mall (which is well known in Kota), etc. many times. But the time when we realized the real struggle of JEE preparation was our first test. We all did satisfactorily work in our first test and got reshuffled to our phase's top batch. My schoolmates were also with me. Soon, I realized the speed of the course completion. We hardly used to save time to look back. However, we had to manage our time for a short revision by discussing doubts with each other.

After 4–5 months, life showed us many changes from our school. Those days, I was far from home and used to miss my house a lot. A lot of memories of my school life and home used to work as a catalyst for my emotions. Many times, A couple of tears used to behave as the uninvited guests in a party.

In December - January, some suicide cases happened, and we feel the harsh reality behind the dazzling of this city. Once I was afraid and couldn't sleep until 4 o'clock because of a suicide near my hostel. This accident forced me to think deeply. Sometimes we used to discuss such topics in the house. Ankit was a homesick person and ofter fell ill. I used to take him to the hospital. I found there that many students become careless towards their health during their JEE time. Our syllabus was completed on March 1st, and our classes ended. JEE mains was going to be held on April 8th. Almost all of my coaching friends were in my contact. There was a bit misunderstanding between me and one of my batchmates, Abhishek, so we rarely talked to each other. But now it's alright, and we are good friends.

Yes, our tests used to encounter in every two weeks, so we all were in contact with each other. We used to talk about our preparation during lunch and dinner. Ankit was at my hostel. Sometimes Ankit and I used to talk late at night on any unpractical topics, and the next day we used to regret that we had wasted much time on the previous night. In those days of preparation, I hardly came out of my room the whole day. Sometimes I used to talk with my juniors of my hostels, and they used to ask me about the tips to study and some doubts.

Before 10 days of JEE mains, I completed all of my revision and was chill about the exam, but one day later, I was again diving in tension. So I consulted with Kapil Joshi Sir (Our maths teacher). He suggested me not to solve tougher questions and be motivated every time.  On April 6th, I returned home for jee mains, which was going to be on April 8th.

My jee mains got over with the average result, and on April 10th, I was again eating that Kota's Kachoris standing at gobariya bawdi circle. Our revision class had begun, and All of us were back to work. I used to solve some additional problems with the DPPs of Vibrant also. But in this interval of 50 days, I was not much worried as compared to the previous few months. Many of my friends were planing their journey to home in this interval, and before 10 days to jee advanced, Ankit and I were the only in our friend-circle who were still in this enchanted city. JEE advanced was on May 20th, 2018. So on May 18th, both of us said goodbye to Kota and nextday found myself eating parathas at my home. I was satisfied with my prep. The next day, I appeared for the exam at Sikar and performed well.

But there is a thing that I will remember for a lifetime is that Kota city taught me how to struggle with problems by living far from home and introduces me to my capabilities.

Now I'm in IIT Delhi. I didn't meet again with Ankit, Sudesh, and many of my coaching friends yet. But I still miss my old days of Kota. I still miss my coaching classes, my teachers, the food of mess(not too bad) and late-night study, the way from my hostel to coaching, roaming around city mall, my classmates, Kachori and Pohe of that city, world-famous Dussehra Fair, fun with friends, Holi and birthday celebration in the hostel, extra classes of Kapil Joshi sir, the excitement of the result in our coaching tests and most importantly, the environment of Kota where JEE is in the air.

Special thanks to :

Ankit Doot, Rupin Yadav, Rakesh Mehriya, Abhishek Mahla, Sudesh Chaudhary, Rahul, Manish, DInesh Jangu, Subhash (batchmates); Hemansh Kumawat, Saurabh Maheshwari (Vibrant); Amit Kesri, Shubhankar (juniors); and all those new faces, who became a family for me later on.

There are a lot of memories of Kota. I can't share all of these here.

Thanks for reading this.

Manoj Kumar